Eurozone countries are facing a mass downgrade in credit ratings in case EU leaders fail to agree on a concrete plan to stem the region’s debt crisis in the fast-approaching summit, rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has warned.

Issuing the warning on Monday, the leading credit rating agency said France and Germany along with thirteen other nations of the block were in imminent danger of losing their ‘AAA’ debt rating due to the prevailing debt crisis.

Reminding the European leaders that they were running out of time, S&P said in a statement, “Today’s Credit Watch placements are prompted by our belief that systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole.”

The warning prompted France and Germany emphasize in a joint statement that they would take all necessary actions to save the euro and eurozone from collapse.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris to try to align their positions on centralizing control of eurozone budgets to stem the swelling debt crisis.

France and Germany are under pressure to fine tune their proposals to stem debt crisis before the EU summit which will take place on Friday this week in Brussels.